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The value of accompaniment Joe Hampson, Thomas M Crea, Rocío Calvo and Francisco Álvarez Friendship and compassionate companionship with the most vulnerable provide a powerful type of humanitarian service giving priority to personal accompaniment. Jesuit Refugee Service is an international Catholic organisation founded in 1980 to respond to the plight of the Vietnamese boatpeople, with a mandate of accompaniment, service and advocacy for refugees and other forcibly displaced people.1 In accompaniment work, we move beyond a mere delivery of services through offering companionship, active listening and solidarity, focusing on individuals’ personal needs and concerns. For us accompaniment is a process echoing the fundamental belief of divine presence on earth, expressing solidarity and compassion. Through accompaniment we aim to lessen the enormous power gap between humanitarian worker and beneficiary and hope to increase the desire for genuine participation by displaced people in programmes and services affecting them. In virtually all refugee or forced migration stories there lies the menacing background of war and violence; hopelessness in the face of suffering and deprivation; the yearning to be listened to and to tell one’s story; and the value of small gestures of compassion and respect. Empowering refugees is to give them back self-worth and hope for the future. Involving refugees in the plans made for their lives is not only sensible but a psychological and moral necessity, a precondition for sustainable, effective projects which should be the hallmark of faith-based organisations’ humanitarian programmes. Of course faith-based organisations (FBOs) can and do run large programmes of humanitarian assistance using all their professional expertise but these large-scale approaches must always be in the service of, and never dwarf, personal and human approaches. Accompaniment can offer an antidote to the ‘commodification’ of beneficiaries that
unfortunately happens so often in large-scale humanitarian relief operations. We recall our experience in western Zambia, where a sudden influx of new Angolan refugees had arrived in a newly erected refugee camp. Though officially tasked with education services, JRS took it upon itself also to advocate in a broad sense for refugees’ concerns and rights with the camp authorities. One issue of importance to the refugees, but of low priority to harassed camp and government authorities, was the register of those who had died since arriving in Zambia. JRS became responsible for keeping a record of the dead, on behalf of the living; in performing this simple yet meaningful service, JRS accompanied the refugees on their journey of life by allowing refugees to formalise the importance of those who had gone before them. Death is perhaps a particularly significant aspect of a faith life, and therefore important for faith-based organisations, but not the only example; there are many places where there is an intersection between faith and the humanitarian instinct. The importance of compassion for those in need or the value of companionship for life’s journey – these practices are enjoined by a faith approach and provide a powerful and special type of humanitarian service, giving priority to personal accompaniment. A faith-based approach to accompaniment also provides an alternative lens through which to view the programmatic implications of service delivery:
■■ Because of strong links with local religious
leaders and communities, FBOs are in a powerful position to make the case for local integration, stressing values of hospitality and solidarity.
■■ Humanitarian intervention is often viewed as parachuted-in help from outside but
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Faith and responses to displacement November 2014
them well, working from the perspective of accompaniment and empowerment of the most vulnerable. This profound understanding of the needs of the community ■■ FBOs have been a powerful tool for advocacy work at national and international can sometimes collide with indicators of service delivery proposed by external levels, making known the plight of the forgotten displaced untouched by the ‘CNN agents who do not know the community. effect’. For example, the global treaty to ban To the extent possible, a sense of mission should guide a set of evidence-based, best landmines was in large part inaugurated practices in the field, which in turn serve and later driven by FBOs. to advance the mission. Yet, in practice it is often difficult to conceptualise specifically ■■ Because levels of trust between FBOs and how the mission and practices can best be the displaced are often higher than with linked. In the complex environments in secular NGOs, there is greater likelihood, which FBOs operate, we believe that the best in our experience, of being able to tap into the strengths, experiences and networks of approach is one guided by a set of values, yet drawing from and using best available refugees that may help lead to solutions. evidence operationally – what could be termed ‘evidence-informed mission work’. ■■ In Africa and Asia, we have found great respect by religious leaders for the work In over three decades of service to done by FBOs for displaced, regardless of refugees and IDPs, JRS considers that one the church or religion. of the defining elements of its identity – accompaniment – is central to most religious No matter in what sector of service delivery, traditions, and is also a unique element that in JRS we have found it valuable to build in they can bring to humanitarian service. details of accompaniment at every stage of Accompaniment as practised in JRS is defined our project cycle: in the training of staff on its by a cluster of attitudes and values: solidarity, importance and priority in our work; in our hope, respect and dignity, friendship, open codes of conduct and conditions of service; listening, hospitality, striving for justice, in our reports, monitoring and evaluation and opting for the poor and marginalised. exercises; and in our assessment of impact. Like many other FBOs who aim to be close FBOs with a strong sense of accompaniment to and in solidarity with those they serve, may be better placed to position themselves JRS has found in accompaniment a practice alongside refugees in protracted situations, and a dimension that offer deeper quality of although one of the challenges we have found service as well as benefits well beyond those in stressing the value of accompaniment is of a rigid calculus of output and impact. the delicate timing of letting go, especially Fr Joe Hampson SJ treasurer@jesuitszimbabwe. after a prolonged presence. FBOs may not co.zw worked with JRS for 14 years in Africa and always be the first on the humanitarian Asia and now works in Zimbabwe as Jesuit scene but often they are the last to leave. Province Treasurer. Thomas M Crea Also, secular INGOs and UN agencies may
[email protected] is Associate Professor and Chair of lack local familiarity and knowledge, and the Global Practice Concentration, Boston have to face the realities of frequent staff College School of Social Work. Rocío Calvo rotation, as well as bureaucratic difficulties
[email protected] is Assistant Professor and of conducting cross-border programmes. Director of the Latino Leadership Initiative, Another challenge facing FBOs, and certainly Boston College School of Social Work. Francisco Álvarez SJ
[email protected] is Secretary for present in JRS, relates to the different Social Justice and Ecology, General Curia of the understanding of what constitutes the best Society of Jesus. approach to service delivery. FBOs are usually close to the population and know 1. www.jrs.net FBOs usually have a local viewpoint, knowledge and skill base.
